I. Why Is Authority Important in the Home?

A. Authority in the Home Is Ordained by God.

Husbands have authority over wives.

Ephesians 5:22-24 - The wife should obey her husband as the church should obey Christ. Can the church please God if it disobeys Jesus? No, and neither can the wife please God if she disobeys her husband. This applies in "everything." The only exception would be if her husband required her to sin against God (Acts 5:29).

1 Corinthians 11:3 - The head of the woman is the man, just as the head of man is Christ.
1 Peter 3:1,5,6 - Women should be subject to their husbands as Sarah was to Abraham. [See also Tit. 2:5; Col. 3:18.]

Consider this quotation from Judge Samuel Leibowitz who was a Senior Judge in Brooklyn Criminal Court:

Young people in Italy respect authority ... That respect starts in the home - then carries over into the school, the city streets, the courts.

I went into Italian homes to see for myself. I found that even in the poorest family the father is respected by the wife and children as its head. He rules with varying degrees of love and tenderness and firmness. His household has rules to live by, and the child who disobeys them is punished.

Thus I found the nine-word principle that I think can do more for us than all the committees, ordinances and multi-million-dollar programs combined: Put Father back at the head of the family.

The American teen-ager has been raised in a household where "obey" is an outlawed word, and where the mother has put herself at the head of the family. - Reader's Digest, March, 1958, via Plain Truth about Child-Rearing, p. 7

This description may not accurately describe modern Italy, but the principle is still true, because it agrees with the Bible.

Parents have no basis to expect children to respect their authority, until the parents correct their own relationship toward authority. Children will not respect the father's authority, if he cannot maintain authority over his wife. Nor will they respect the mother's authority, if she refuses to respect her husband's authority.

As it was with love, so it is with authority. To relate properly to the children, parents must begin by relating properly to one another.

Parents have authority over children.

Proverbs 1:8 - A son should hear his father's instruction and not forsake his mother's law.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 - Under the Old Testament, a stubborn and rebellious son, who would not obey his parents, was to be stoned.

Luke 2:51 - Jesus set the example for children by being subject to His earthly parents.

Romans 1:30,32 - Disobedience to parents, like other sins, causes those who practice it - and those who justify others who practice it - to be worthy of death.

Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20 - Children should obey their parents.

Isaiah 3:12 - Describing the wickedness of Israel, God said that children would oppress them and women would rule over them. Likewise our society errs when these oppressive conditions prevail. [Cf. 2 Tim. 3:2; Jer. 35; Phil. 2:22; 1 Pet. 1:14; Prov. 30:17.]

Such teachings make some people (even in the church) feel extremely uncomfortable, but it all comes from the word of God. God made both parents and children. He knows what is best for all. If these views seem overly strict to you, then you should seriously ask yourself whether you have been too influenced by our permissive society.

B. Authority Produces Cooperation and Organization in the Home.

When people work together, organization and cooperation are needed in order to accomplish good. But organization and cooperation require someone to be recognized as a leader with authority. This explains why God ordained authority in every human relationship that He ordained.

Citizens must submit to civil government

See Romans 13:1-6; 1 Peter 2:13,14.

Imagine what a country would be like if there were no rules, so everyone did as he pleased. We could not even drive down the street: no one would even know what side to drive on or who had the right-of-way at intersections!

Employees must submit to their employers

See Ephesians 6:5-8; 1 Peter 2:18.

Consider what a business would be like with no supervision. If everyone came and went when they pleased, did whatever they pleased whenever they pleased, how would any business function?

So authority among humans is necessary in order to achieve cooperation. Someone has to be in charge. Without proper leadership, every effort to work together would be ruined due to indecision. Likewise in the home, someone has to be in charge. God has ordained that the husband is the head, and the children are to submit to the parents.